1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to color design creation methods and more particularly to such methods in which fast color copies are produced.
2. Prior Art
The development of color designs for such goods as textile fabrics, wallpaper, carpeting, floor and ceiling tiles and the like takes time and can be expensive. A typical styling procedure used in the fabric industry is as follows:
1. Purchase the original artwork for a proposed design creation which is then submitted to an engraver; PA1 2. create colorways for the design which are then submitted to a printer; PA1 3. print cloth samples using the design of various colorways; and PA1 4. show the cloth samples to customers.
Traditionally, the color styling done in (2) above is accomplished by the designer interacting with an artist wherein the designer chooses colors felt to represent the "color look" for the season and communicates them to the artist who then paints a small sample of each colorway. The designer reviews the samples with the artist and makes final adjustments. After the artist paints the final colorways, as many as 5-10 reproductions of each colorway may be painted for internal use and use by salesmen.
As can be seen, time and expense are tied up in the artist who is simply reproducing new colors in a design. Also, the designer is limited in the number of colorways produced because of the time needed to paint samples. The number of multiple copies is limited by the size of the art staff available.
Recently, a designer has been aided in the selection of colorways by an optical image reconstruction apparatus such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,549,238 and 3,561,859. In using such an apparatus, the original design creation is separated into individual color channels which are made into a special gradient slide. The silde is placed in the apparatus and the designer can change each color in the design while holding other colors constant. After a desired colorway is set, the designer matches the colors, as near as possible, to colors from a color library. Hard copies of the desired colorway are made by printing procedures using the colors selected from the color library.
While the image reconstruction apparatus expands the designers' ability to set colorways, the system has certain limitations. First of all, the color library usually does not have a complete range of colors infinitely variable through the complete spectrum. Second, copy production, which is the creation of colorways, is done at the printer. Thus, while designer-artist interaction is still needed during creation of the colorways, it has been removed. Third, the designer must wait to receive the hard copies before a final decision on colorways can be made. Thus, there remains a need for a color design system which can color-style and produce design creations quickly and cheaply.